City of Glass (The New York Trilogy #1)

by Paul Auster

Overview

From Paul Auster, author of the forthcoming 4 3 2 1:  A novel – his debut work of fiction, the first volume in his acclaimed “New York Trilogy” series of novels

Nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Mystery of the Year, City of Glass inaugurates the intriguing New York Trilogy of novels that the Washington Post Book World has classified as "post-existentialist private eye...It's as if Kafka has gotten hooked on the gumshoe game and penned his own ever-spiraling version." As a result of a strange phone call in the middle of the night, Quinn, a writer of detective fiction and crime books, becomes enmeshed in a case more puzzling than any he might have written. New York Times-bestselling author Paul Auster combines dark humor with Hitchcock-like suspense to City of Glass.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140097313
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/07/1987
Series:	New York Trilogy , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	191,919
Product dimensions:	5.09(w) x 7.69(h) x 0.59(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul Auster is the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Sunset Park, The Book of Illusions, Moon Palace, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature.  His other honors include the Prix Médicis étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Burning Boy, and the Carlos Fuentes Prize for his body of work.  His most recent novel, 4 3 2 1, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.  He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Hometown:

Brooklyn, New York

Date of Birth:

February 3, 1947

Place of Birth:

Newark, New Jersey

Education:

B.A., M.A., Columbia University, 1970

Editorial Reviews

Remarkable. . .the book is a pleasure to read, full of suspense and action. . .[A] strange and powerful adventure in Paul Auster’s art.”
– The New York Times Book Review
 
“Exhilarating. . .A brilliant investigation of the storyteller’s art, guided by a writer-detective who’s never satisfied with just the facts.”
– The Philadelphia Inquirer
 
“A wondrous whodunit for metaphysicians, an intricate detective story and many-layered romance.”
– Russell Banks

Praise for Paul Auster:

“One of the great American prose stylists of our time.”—New York Times

“Auster really does possess the wand of the enchanter.”—New York Review of Books

“One of the great writers of our time.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Contemporary American writing at its best.”—New York Times Book Review, on Invisible

“A literary original who is perfecting a hybrid genre of his own.”—Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

We don't know much about Daniel Quinn. We do know that he is 35, and that at one time he had a wife and son, who are now dead. He writes mysteries under the pseudonym of William Wilson, and when a stranger phones asking to speak to Paul Auster, Quinn decides to answer to that name too. The caller is Peter Stillman, a man with a most unusual past, who fears that he will be killed by his father, recently released from an institution. Quinn (as Auster) agrees to trail the elder Stillman, who spends his days wandering the streets of New York. How Quinn gradually becmes drawn intoand finally obsessed byStillman's life and psyche makes for a labyrinthine, intriguing story. An impressive if not major work by the author of The Invention of Solitude.October 14

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Daniel Quinn, author of a series of de tective pot-boilers, accepts an assign ment as a real private investigator from a man who dials his phone number by mistake. His mission: to keep an eye on the man's father, a former linguistics professor who has spent time in jail for bizarre childrearing experiments. Quinn quickly loses track of both his client and the suspect, as well as his own apartment and belongings, and fi nally his identity. This metafictional mystery, reminiscent of Robbe-Gril let's anti-novel The Erasers, challenges conventional notions of character and plot. However, unless the remaining volumes of this projected trilogy pro vide more depth and substance, Aus ter's previous book, The Invention of Solitude, will probably remain the best introduction to his work. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib., Los Angeles

Library Journal